Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Yes, but it comes down to the probability of a person leaving the live register. Last year some 140,000 left the live register. Of these, 120,000 were unemployed for less than 12 months and only 20,000 for over 12 months. Looking at the percentages, the chance of finding a job if one is long-term unemployed is only one in nine, but if one is unemployed for only a short time, it is quite high, at 66%.

What we are saying through the scheme is that we need to give people a chance who otherwise could drift into being long-term unemployed and become detached from the workplace. What we need to do is bring them back into the workforce. Whether they have spent the past 12 months on FÁS courses or participating in JobBridge or community employment schemes, we want to use this programme to get as many of them as possible who are now 12 months or more out of work back into the jobs market. The scheme has been deliberately targeted at them. It is not just a subsidy for an employer to recruit an employee, it also seeks to help a disadvantaged group. Many of the programmes involve people who are coming off JobBridge, community employment or FÁS courses; therefore, significant preparatory work has been done in preparing them for the jobs market. With good matching between the new Intreo offices and employers, we can deliver on this commitment.

The Deputy correctly identified a problem in the SME sector, namely, the difficulty in accessing funding for cash flow for larger companies. We are undertaking a review of the loan guarantee scheme to examine whether some of the conditions are too restrictive. This seems to be an area in which there is a gap in funding, at which we will look as part of the review. If the Deputy has experience with regard to specific companies, we would like to work on it. He has already referred one company to me.

On the trend in unemployment as regards women versus men, in the early part of the recession the level of male employment was hugely higher. The rate for men is still much higher than for women. The first dislocation of people from the construction sector had a massive impact. Many of the long-term unemployed are male. Therefore, it is encouraging to see an improvement. I agree that there are probably new areas with untapped opportunities to promote entrepreneurship among women. Last year we allocated €750,000, in two tranches, for competitive start-ups by women. This was massively over-subscribed and a very successful programme. It is encouraging in the number of people starting up businesses this year that the number involving women has risen. The signs are that women are beginning to become more actively involved in entrepreneurship. We are also looking at the suggestion of dedicating part of the initiative headed by Mr. Sean O'Sullivan for young entrepreneurs.

On the point made by Senator Feargal Quinn, the decline in entrepreneurship in Ireland can be traced to the economic circumstances. Retail and consumer-led sectors were certainly hit by the recession, while export-targeted sectors held up better. High-potential start-ups are doing well, as is the competitive sector, such as companies starting up in applications. When I meet European colleagues, I understand we have a better environment to develop these areas. We have tax relief which allows a person to put six years of PAYE tax payments into his or her company. This concession is not generally available in other countries. Enterprise Ireland's seed and venture funding scheme is far more developed than that in any comparative agency in the rest of Europe. We now also have microfinance. However, I agree that we are still not tapping this space enough and that is the reason we are looking for new ideas. Perhaps we might promote these opportunities better in order that people will be more aware of them and look out for specific groups on which we have missed out.

One enterprise on which we are working is the high-skill start-up. Some of our research and innovation budget is going to centres that promote spin-out.

We have about ten spin-out companies per year from SFI type work, at the high end of technology, as opposed to the retail end of tourism. These companies also spin out licensed technologies.

As the seed capital schemes apply to all sectors since November 2012, the retail and tourism sectors are no longer excluded. As they used only to apply to manufacturing and internationally traded services, it is a boost for people involved in these sectors.